#Chapter 7

With only a couple of days to explore Samoens

I wasted no time.

I think I could quite happily live in this village.

There is a very special something about it:)

In between being support ''team'' to Jake,

me and my camera took to the streets,

the back lanes,

and the hills.

...very impressed with the flower boxes around

the town square -

this is truly spectacular :)

...and a carousel like out of a fairy tale :)

The jardin botanique was very special -

a narrow steep garden -

it wound up the hillside in a series of

little paths.

I've not seen anything like this garden before,

it was quite magical.

Almost wild in places,

but completely natural

and beautiful.

If you ever visit Samoens,

you must visit this garden:)

There is a tiny little chapel half way up...

...garden seats in secluded little spots...

...so green and lush...

...enchanting is the word I would use to describe

this beautiful little oasis in the middle

of the village of Samoens.

And as if the garden is not gorgeous enough

this is one of the main streets :)

I could go on and on about Samoens,

but I think you get the idea.

I might have fallen in love with this village :)

And the race...

he did good :)

Stage one was raced in a short

but intense

electrical storm!!!

And the remaining four stages were raced

in temperatures best kept for the beach :)

So far I have to say

I have really enjoyed the whole camping experience,

and to be honest,

wasn't quite sure how I would go at that:)

The camps we have stayed in have been fabulous,

really neat and super clean,

and the owners have all been so friendly and,

well,

just really really nice people:)

I know that the weather has helped 

and I'm sure that as the season starts to change,

so will the temperature inside the tent,

but I'll worry about that when it happens:)

Until then,

I quite like camp style dining each night,

and I definitely like

the fresh baguette every morning :)

But let me tell you about camp showers!!

I think I have now experienced every sort of shower

possible.

All of them, except one,

have been push button jobs.

The amount of time

that the water flows between each push

varies from about thirty seconds to

one minute

 (if you are lucky).

You just gotta keep pushing the button!

Water temperature varies from "a smidge over cold"

to "scalding flipping hot"!

Some of them stay exactly the same temperature,

hot or cold or anywhere in between,

no matter what way you turn the tap:)

And then there are the ones

that go from cold to scorching

with a turn of approximately

one tenth of a millimetre!

They're lots of fun:)

There's every degree of water pressure from

 a dribble to full blown water blaster...

the latter being an "invigorating" way

to start the day :)

Rinsing the shampoo out of one's hair

takes on a whole new meaning

with the water blaster ones:)

The champion shower, though,

 so far, 

has to be the one that we paid for.

Very confusing system... 

the token box was located

at the end of the row of showers,

a clearly numbered slot for each shower,

so you would think, this looks very simple.

So...set my gear up in shower #4,

went out and pushed the button for #4,

inserted token

and lo and behold shower in #2 sprang into life!!!

Hmmm...

 mad dash to #4 to remove all items

to #2 and have a shower before

it timed out!!!

You gotta laugh, though -

it's all part of the fun of camping.

So we left Samoens to travel back through

our base camp at Briancon,

heading for Les Orres

and the next race.

See you there :)

Jenny xx